Two versions of the pastoral - Chekhov's Gooseberries

Anton Chekhov's story Gooseberries is a sequel, of sorts, to Man in a Case - both begin with two friends out hunting in the Russian countryside who pass some time telling one another stories: Man in a Case a story the schoolteacher tells to the veterinarian, and in Gooseberries it's the vet's turn. Gooseberries is a rarity for Chekhov - a framed story. The hunters are caught in a downpour and they take shelter in a nearby working farm owned by one of their friends whom they hadn't seen in a long time. After the bathe and change into dry clothes, the sit in the salon and the vet tells his tale: it's about his brother, who leads a miserly and circumspect life, working in an office and dreaming of owning an estate in the country; he saves all his money toward this end, he marries a woman he does not love so as to inherit her fortune, ultimately he buys the estate. The brother visits - they had not seen one another for many years - and the man is very proud of her rather paltry estate - especially of the gooseberries, which he devours. In fact, the gooseberries are sour and dry - much like the man himself, obviously. Does he know how bad they are but eats them just to put on a boastful display? Can he not even tell they're terrible - all he cares about is that they're his? This part of the story - actually, it's the only part I remembered from my previous reading of the story many years ago - is powerful in itself, but the framing give the story special poignancy: the farm that the two brothers visit is an image of the pastoral at its finest; the farmer working very hard on his estate, not at all self-conscious, delighted to have visitors - the scene of the three men in the bathhouse and then swimming in the pond is especially beautiful, kind of Lawrentian - and the farmer himself seems to be a character who stepped right out of Tolstoy, an intellectual who finds solace and significance in working this land. Several references made to the very beautiful servant maid - but he never refers to her beauty and there's no overt reference to his having any relationship with her: he's focused on his work. The possibility, however, hovers beyond the horizon of the story: we can almost imagine that someday he will realize that he loves her and they will enjoy a life together.